Property Reports in Sydney from Jackson Strata

Despite Australia’s vast open spaces, most people have chosen to live in just a handful of coastal cities. As these city populations have exploded, land has become increasingly scarce and therefore more valuable, with Sydney’s great suburban sprawl giving way to first medium, and then high-density policies. When our family moved from Scone and settled in Dee Why in 1957, there were no home units in that beachside suburb. How times have changed.

There are now over 90,000 strata schemes in NSW alone. There are also community associations, where strata schemes pool their resources in shared facilities under a building management committee. Neighbourhood associations relieve local councils of their obligations to maintain roads, footpaths, parks and landscaping by charging these homes with quarterly levies.

The community management statements outline obligations incumbent upon people buying into these associations. Hybrid entities such as precinct associations are creative products of the trade-off between the developer’s and local council’s interests. Prior to the Strata Scheme Management Act in 1962, home units were generally run as corporations, with Memoranda of Articles of Association setting out their particular rules.

Throughout the inner city and eastern suburbs, Company Title Home Units still flourish, where company title buys shares from a company. The company is not bound by Strata Title Management Act.

When a person is about to enter into one of the largest commercial transactions of their lives, they need to know what they’re getting themselves into. Solicitors and conveyancers have increasingly sought the particular skill sets of strata inspectors to assist them in ascertaining:

What exactly their client is buying

What the dangers may be

Whether there are any financial problems or subtler issues that may not be immediately apparent upon a physical inspection of the property